Customer Reviews

An Unwilling Bride

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

Sigh -- so many readers latch on to one small incident and trash the whole thing because of it, and all without looking at the whole. As to the issue of abuse, Jo Beverley is known for dealing with difficult and sometimes uncomfortable (to be kind) issues. Abuse is one of the issues addressed in "An Unwilling Bride." Yes, the reader can be rightly concerned about the hero's temper and the one (count 'em, one) time Lucien backhands his wife. I am NOT justifying his behavior, but reading his reaction and all that follows, he seems to be even more upset about it than she is. Lucien is appalled at himself. It is also true that he is at times emotionally cruel to Beth early on, but it is the result of a very serious misunderstanding that she caused and a backlash from his own pain. As unpleasant as that is, it's real; people really do lash out at others when they themselves are in pain, particularly if the other person manges to add to the load. In addition, she is a virago early in their relationship, due in large part to her trying to get out of a marriage she doesn't want. Nevertheless, she is truly obnoxious at times and there is a portion of the book in which the reader may not like either character. Both are dealing with very difficult situations they feel powerless to change, and both have very strong, independent-minded personalities. Friction is inevitable. Moreover, responses that so berate Lucien fail to recognize that people are imperfect; they make mistakes. Odd how Lucien is condemned for one terrible mistake and the rest of his character, which is very fine indeed, is overlooked. At least Beth comes to realize that she started their problems (not "is responsible for his hitting her") and continued to exacerbate them. Like all relationships, both are responsible.

Did those who dubbed this book a typical Regency (or those who could not get past the one incidence of violence) actually finish the book? The message is that neither physical nor emotional abuse is acceptable. The couple must learn to deal with each other with respect, compassion, and understanding. And there is plenty of meat for the idea of equality between the sexes, too. Beverley's book takes a realistic look at the issue of spousal abuse in the Regency period (and one must keep in mind the historical context), as well as the misunderstandings and compromises necessary in a marriage between such high-spirited people, the gap between the aristocracy and lower classes, the sorrows and concerns of war, and much more. It is a deep book which, it seems, is not appreciated by all.

Jo Beverley has a gift for writing unique books. Somehow Beverley manages to deal with difficult subjects at the same time that she presents interesting twists on standard plots such that each book is new (not becoming repetitive as even other good authors are want to do) and the characters are individual and memorable. I liked Lucien a lot -- other than the anger, which is explained in everything he has to deal with at that moment (and all who know him agree that, although he has a temper, he is acting far from normal), and the time he hit her. I'm less pleased with Beth's stubborn and selfish actions that keep creating more problems for them. For example, one of her hang-ups is that he's of the aristocracy; it takes her a long time to start to get past that, in part because of her own self-righteousness and her ignorance of aristocratic duties. While she cannot be blamed for his hitting her, Beth was responsible (she herself admits it) for making a difficult situation horrid. She does, however, realize eventually that she's wrong and begins to soften and compromise. In the end, they come to appreciate each other's strengths and to become friends and lovers in the sort of marriage most intelligent people would appreciate (and violence has no part in it).

It is because of those two "flaws" and the fact that I would like to have had a little more attention to Lucien's parents (especially at the end when JB could have dealt with Lucien's evolving relationship with them) and a greater emphasis on the couple's falling in love with each other (making it clearer in actions, not just the sudden declaration, considering all that happened beforehand)...because of those things, I give it 4 stars.

It is not necessary to read the Company of Rogues series (and the companion books about the 3 Georges) in order; they are each delightful, intense stories, and all of the characters mentioned are given enough space to be understood even though they appeared in previous books. Having said that, however, reading them in order cannot help but add to the experience by allowing everything to fall into place in the correct order, since the plots as well as the characters overlap somewhat.

Short version: If you cannot get past the issue of violence, you'll hate this book. If you can delve deeper, looking at larger issues, motivations, the intricacies of character, and all the other realities of life (especially life in a given historical period) that Beverley refuses to smooth over or ignore, you'll have a wonderful read on your hands.

I think this is one of Jo Beverley's best books - maybe her best. It's a very daring book, for the genre, but not because Lucien is an alpha male with a potential for violence - that description would cover most romance heroes pretty well; certainly it's nothing unique.

No, the reason why An Unwilling Bride is daring is because instead of just picking up the old cliche (alpha male, potential for violence) Beverley decides to put it on trial: what happens when the dreamy alpha male crosses the thin line that most romance authors so delicately avoid? What happens when the heroine is someone like Beth, who has strong feelings about her own independence and rights? Beth is very well contextualized, but she gives the readers the opportunity to ask the one big question that almost every book in this genre ought to pose us: how can you reconcile the desire to be free and respected with the desire for an alpha male?

This is essentially what the book is about. Everybody - every mother, girlfriend, and companion - offers to protect Beth and punish Lucien for his transgressions. There is no 'tolerance' for violence and the sheer number of words devoted to the topic of Lucien's potential & actual violence should show that this is not a question of a 'wife beater' - although I think that it should be obvious that the alpha male hero and wife beating jerk are not totally apples and oranges.

I think Beverley ends up arguing that the difference between the hero and the jerk isn't that one has the potential for violence and the other doesn't; rather, it's a matter of self-discipline, nobility of spirit, understanding of right and wrong. Lucien isn't perfect, but he understands those things, and that's why he's ultimately a hero.

I don't think Beverley really dealt sufficiently with Beth and Lucien's feelings; this is probably the consequence of dealing so thoroughly with their beliefs. There's almost no steam, but the way that Beverley describes Beth and Lucien when they dance, or engage in a battle of the wits, is amazingly done and incredibly erotic.

And, of course, the book is a lot of fun - plenty of other Rogues make apperances, it's excellently structured (I think Beverley sets up the quotation from the Rape of the Lock as the premise of the novel and its inclusion is really cleverly done), very smart, and Beth is a wonderful heroine - really smart and sweet.

If you are a stickler, as I am, for a well-written, well- plotted historical romance, you won't want to miss this re-issue of one of Jo Beverley's best stories. The heroine, Beth, is a "modern" 19th century woman who speaks plainly and enjoys her career as a teacher. The hero, Lucien, is the son of a Duke and a traditionalist who believes that the best wives are seen but not heard. The two come together through the machinations of Lucien's father, and the sparks begin to fly! The dialogue between these two is not only very witty and clever, but it is also very believable. There are a number of secondary characters in the book that are finely-drawn, and the plot contains a surprising suspenseful twist that keeps the reader intrigued. In short, if you have high standards and are tired of some of the "pap" that passes for romantic fiction nowadays, you will love "An Unwilling Bride." I can't wait for the re-issue of more of Ms. Beverley's older books.

First of all, I purchased this book because the back summary made the book seem passionate and original. I wanted to see what Beth would do with the marriage she is forced into. I thought she would use her wit and intelligence to ensnare her new husband. I thought there would at least be some sexual tension. However this is not the case at all. Beth in fact goes out of her way to make herself unattractive to her future husband, like snipping off her bow from her modcap before she first meets him. This is supposed to make us cheer her on, but I felt more frustrated. The hero, Lucien, is so shallow that without even knowing the character of the heroine, tells her he finds her "unattractive". This is what she wants, but she still feels hurt by his comment (FRUSTRATING!!!). This pretty much happens throughout the whole book. She goes out of her way to seem unaffected by him and he goes out of his way to hurt her. I really don't like the way JB forced the reader to read the interaction between Beth (who we're not even sure Lucien loves) and his mistress Blanche (who JB lets us know he does love). There is absolutely no chemistry whatsoever between Lucien and Beth. Lucien admits even after they are married that he felt no pressing need to make love to his wife. What galls me the most is that there is more passion between Lucien and Blanche than between Lucien and the woman he "loves" Beth. Then there's the back-handed slap. There were many times that JB could have made Lucien feel jealousy towards Beth, but didn't.Instead we are left with the impression that he slaps her because of wounded pride. Strangely this is the first show of any sort of intense feeling toward Beth and it falls flat.There was no justification for it. Considering he had a torrid affair with Blanche, even after he agreed to marry Beth, the jerk had no right to hit her merely because he saw an old tricorn hat. When the love scene DOES occur it is over before it begins, literally. Try two measly sentences. Worst of all, we're STILL not sure Lucien truly loves his wife. After this "love" scene, Lucien and Beth Join Blanche (I know, dumb) and Nicholas Delaney in one of the cheesiest stings ever to catch the villains. Beth and Blanche dress up like hookers while the men dress up like ruffians (?????). Blanche, once again is glorified, for being beautiful, graceful, etc., etc, and they all work together to bring the villains down. Needless to say there was no passion in this book, and in my opinion no love. Just a bunch of frustrating interactions between the hero and the heroine, and the knowledge that Lucien's mistress is the best. I would definitely recommend that people not waste their hard earned coin on this book between a "heroine", a "hero", and his greatest love, his mistress "Blanche"(Dare I mention I absolutely abhor this name!!!!)

Beth and Lucien must make the best of a difficult situation when Lucien's father, a duke, force them to wed. Beth unwittingly makes matters worse when, not realizing that her fiance is as trapped as she is, she brags about having had numerous (fictional) affairs to try to get him to break their engagement. Lucien, very much a man of his time, spends much of the book trying to figure out how to keep his improperly raised wife "in line," and even after discovering the truth about Beth's virginity still has lingering doubts about her virtue.

Three cheers to Beverley for taking such a somber-sounding plot and turning it into a wonderful exploration of character and gender issues, while never losing the main focus of the story: the romance. These two characters are more than a match for each other, and I love that they didn't just get married and have all their problems disappear after great sex. In fact, there isn't much sex in this book at all, but there is plenty of tension, sexual and otherwise.

And yes, there is an incident of domestic violence that occurs after our complex hero has just bared his soul. I personally think that he should have grovelled a deal more, despite Beth's insistence that he not do so, which is why this book gets 4 rather than 5 stars.

This one has it all--humour, adventure, intrigue, glitz and glam, and, of course, romance. The very best (IMO) of the author's excellent Company of Rogues series--though CHRISTMAS ANGEL and FORBID DEN come close seconds--and the very best histori cal romance I've ever read. This tale of a fiesty bluestocking who is forced to marry a rather arro gant young blueblood shows how far the romance genre has evolved. I don't want to give away too much of the plot, so suffice it to say that this "shrew" doesn't get tamed! The sympathetic por trayal of the hero's ex-mistress is an added bo nus.

But when will the rest of the series appear?! There hasn't been a new Company of Rogues book for three years!

As someone deeply interested in the British peerage, I found this story extremely interesting. What happens when a young man discovers that the man he has believed his father all his lifetime tells him the truth about his birth? This is the situation in which Lucien, who appeared in THE ARRANGED MARRIAGE, finds himself at the start of the novel. We first encounter him as a typical hell-raiser, albeit one who is a good friend to Nicholas Delaney and other members of the Company of Rogues (a story and theme interwoven through all these books).

Then, the truth emerges rapidly - Lucien is the son of the Duke's wife by a brief affair she had with another man; the Duke accepted the baby at the time because there were other heirs who subsequently died. It is not surprising given the strained relationship between his parents and the complete lack of affection from his father that Lucien is a hell-raiser. He is however beginning to think about marriage, as part of his duty.

This is where the second surprise comes in - the Duke finds out that he has an illegitimate daughter, who is now a schoolteacher at a very exclusive seminary (school for young ladies). He insists on his son (in the eyes of the law) and his illegitimate daughter (not publicly recognized) marrying - this might seem icky to some readers. It is easy to consider the Duke a villain without understanding his own pride in his family, his own bitter disappointment in his wife and then in the death of his legitimate sons.

My sympathies naturally fall to the hero and heroine - Lucien and the teacher Beth. Although both behave in less than admirable ways at times, I can understand the enormous compulsions they are struggling under. However, while Beth is the more pitiful in some regards (she has no money, and may have no job), she also behaves rather foolishly in claiming a colorful past and in antagonizing her reluctant fiance. Let us just say that the hero and heroine make some understandable but completely wrong assumptions about each other.

The rest of the story is marked by sexual and other tension; the couple loathe each other, but are required to produce children to be able to win independent incomes. Lucien cannot bear the thought of Beth as his wife, but is also somewhat attracted to her. He does have a dark side; his near-use of violence shocks a long-time family servant into protesting, and his actual use of violence (although justifiable by the *standards* of the age) will shock and disgust some readers. It does seem that Beth is quick to forgive him, and that his own horror at his actions is only temporary. [Here, I have to wonder given his previous attempts to physically subdue Beth, what kind of marriage they are going to have. Has Lucien really learned something?].

Beth can be bossy, sometimes remarkably unaware of danger, and often wilfully flouting social conventions (as in going to visit her husband's mistress). I cannot say that she is a paragon of virtue, or that she is always likeable, because she is not. But both she and Lucien are always interesting, although I sometimes fear for their marriage.

The supporting cast of characters, including the creepy villain who emerges from TAM, are as engaging as ever. The mistress, or rather ex-mistress, is a rather unusual person; the portrayal of even minor characters such as the mistress's servants, the grooms and the footmen at the ducal seat, and the villain's hired rogies are all believable and very much alive. In fact, I think this is what makes Beverley's books come alive - not just that her hero and heroine are not cardboard characters, but that she has peopled her books with secondary characters (like the Duke and Duchess, and Lucien's friends, the villain and his intended bride), as well as minor characters who all have their own histories - whether described, hinted at, or hidden.

Why do I rate this book at four stars although it is a keeper on my shelves? Because the violence, real or implied, might put off some readers, especially the domestic violence. Because, in my view, the book ends too quickly after the domestic violence with forgiveness coming across too pat. Also, because at times, Beth makes remarkably stupid decisions. On the other hand, those decisions make her all the more human, and are justifiable given her life history and her character.

The book is well written. The dialogue is excellent, with witty exchanges. I like the character of Elizabeth. I could not understand or relate to the Duke and Duchess, or to Lucien.

I was deeply bothered by the lack of honor shown by Lucien. He knows Elizabeth has been forced into accepting marriage. He knows that she fears him and does not wish to marry him. He does not defend her right to refuse to marry him because he will lose the unentailed portion of his inheritance. Lucien would remain a very rich man, just not a extremely wealthy man. Instead of worrying about Elizabeth's happiness, Lucien spends his time worrying about his family name and the potential blots that Elizabeth might give it. He does little to ensure his unwilling bride's happiness except to refrain from forcing intimacy. Lucien supposedly falls in love with Elizabeth during their honeymoon, but he spends little time with her once they return to London. In a jealous rage he strikes Elizabeth, who (in typical abuse victim fashion) lies to his family about the bruises.

It is difficult for me to enjoy a book where I do not like one or more of the main characters. I did not like Lucien. In balance I gave the book two stars because Ms. Beverly is a good word smith, she crafts enjoyable sentences. The book would have been a pleasure to read if Lucien tried a little harder do the right thing and act honorably toward Beth.

I reviewed this book some while ago and have come back to look at ensuing comments from time to time with great interest. I do think it curious that readers of historical fiction so very often insist on applying contemporary behavioral standards to characters who peopled a world that is so different from our own that, if suddenly transported back, most of us would find life incomprehensible.

Domestic and marital law and attitudes have changed so much in the last 100 years that even our grandmothers would seem to have lived lives of deepest deprivation in what was, in fact, a "man's world" - you can't change the past!

So, why such vituperation at Jo Beverly for daring to present characters acting out situations from another world all together with a different set of morals and code of behaviour? The castigation she has received here seems to me to be ill-conceived at best. Would these critics be so scathing if reviewing science fiction? I doubt it but there is some similarity here in reading of a world radically unlike our own. Why read historical fiction if you prefer your stories and characters to be contemporary people dressed up in historical costume?

I believe this was an excellently written, brilliantly peopled story and should be read with an eye to historical context and understanding that one is reading about a very different world which, whether we like it or not, we cannot go back and change.

This is the second book that I've read by Jo Beverley and it's the second in her series "the Company Of Rogues"; the first book, "An Arranged Marriage", didn't really work for me but this second book was much better.

Lucien de Vaux, Marquess of Arden and heir to a dukedom, is about to offer marriage to a young lady when his father stops him. His father orders him to marry an unknown schoolmistress, Beth Armitage, for reasons that are a surprise and a shock to him. When Beth is visited by the Duke of Belcraven and forced to agree to the marriage she believes that her life is almost at an end - a woman who agrees with Mary Wollstonecraft's views on the rights of women can hardly fit well into an aristocratic household. She is afraid of the Marquess, that he could be violent towards her as well as having power over her as her husband.

Lucien and Beth have several weeks together as an engaged couple before the wedding and these are detailed in the story - their conversations, arguments, misunderstandings and fears about the future. And yet as time goes on Beth learns to understand a little more about the responsibilities of the Marquess and to appreciate his intelligence, learning and wit. But even after the wedding all isn't necessarily well, particularly when Beth finds herself helping one of her old school pupils and throwing herself into danger in the meantime.

Although the second book in the series it wasn't really necessary to have read the first - this book works well as a standalone story. Set at the time of the battle of Waterloo and with some really interesting historical insights (particularly with regard to the running of a ducal household and the family's interaction with their servants), the story of an arrangemed marriage turning into a love match is one that works in any era. I wasn't entirely sure when the love arrived between them - it wasn't entirely clear - and the Marquess wasn't always a sympathetic character (violence towards his wife, even in extenuating circumstances, isn't very heroic). However it was well paced and interesting and the characters grew and changed through the book, and some of the side characters (like the Duke and Duchess) also having some resolution. It's a good read but not brilliant but one that lovers of regency romances will probably appreciate.